Sugar, not salt, leads to high blood pressure

It's a health claim most everyone knows: limit salt intake in order to control blood pressure.

But is it true?

New research shows that added sugar, not salt, is the biggest culprit when it comes to high blood pressure. Researchers, whose study was published in Open Heart, indicate that diets focused on decreasing added sugar are more effective in controlling blood pressure than diets focused on reducing salt intake.

What can you do? The researchers stressed that sugars found naturally in foods isn't at issue, it's the sugar added to foods when they are processed. Therefore, the easiest way to tackle the problem is to limit processed foods as much as possible. Skip the snack and cookie aisles at the grocery store, and don't shop for groceries at the drug store or convenient marts.